Renders a piece of PHP with provided parameters and returns HTML, XML, or any other string.

This realizes the concept of Elements, (or "partial layouts")
and the $params array is used to send data to be used in the
Element. Elements can be cached through use of the cache key.

Special params

cache - enable caching for this element accepts boolean or strtotime compatible string.
Can also be an array. If cache is an array,
time is used to specify duration of cache.
key can be used to create unique cache files.

plugin - Load an element from a specific plugin.

Parameters

string
$name

Name of template file in the/app/views/elements/ folder

array
$paramsoptionalarray()

Array of data to be made available to the for rendered
view (i.e. the Element)

Parameters

Returns

A hack to support __construct() on PHP 4
Hint: descendant classes have no PHP4 class_name() constructors,
so this constructor gets called first and calls the top-layer __construct()
which (if present) should call parent::__construct()

Parameters

Checks for a persistent class file, if found file is opened and true returned
If file is not found a file is created and false returned
If used in other locations of the model you should choose a unique name for the persistent file
There are many uses for this method, see manual for examples

Returns

Calls a controller's method from any location. Can be used to connect controllers together
or tie plugins into a main application. requestAction can be used to return rendered views
or fetch the return value from controller actions.

Parameters

mixed
$url

String or array-based url.

array
$extraoptionalarray()

if array includes the key "return" it sets the AutoRender to true.

Returns

mixed

Boolean true or false on success/failure, or contents
of rendered action if 'return' is set in $extra.